ABBA Biography | Music brought them together, heartbreak tore them apart

Although forming a band was not a priority for either of them, they decided to record an album.

• They started with two singles, ‘Nina, Pretty Ballerina’, where Agnetha and Frida’s harmony vocals were especially outstanding, and ‘He Is Your Brother‘.

When they were going out on promotion in Europe in 1973, Agnetha and Björn’s first daughter, Linda, was born, so she was replaced by a friend called Inger Brundin in the promotion.

Although they continued with the album, they also continued with their individual careers. In 1972 Agnetha played Mary Magdalene in the Swedish version of the hit musical Jesuchrist Superstar.

At that time, they decided together with their representative Stig to submit a song to Sweden’s pre-Eurovision festival, the Melodifestivalen. ‘Ring Ring‘ would be the first song in which the band would use their classic “Wall of Sound”.

• Although the song did not win, it would become the name of their first album, ‘Ring Ring’.

At that time they thought that the best way to promote themselves internationally would be the Eurovision Song Contest. They had been working for some time on a new composition inspired by the growing British glam rock, which they called ‘Waterloo‘.

• With ‘Waterloo’ they would win the Swedish Melodifestivalen in 1974 with the highest score to date.

Just before Eurovision, ABBA would release their second album called ‘Waterloo‘ too. It contained great singles such as: Honey, Honey and Until Tomorrow.

Soon rumours began to spread that ABBA was going to be a typical one-hit wonder group. To refute this, ABBA went into the studio again to create ‘So Long‘. The song was ok but it was a flop and was considered ABBA’s least successful single internationally 😭

In 1974 ABBA began their first world tour, but due to low demand they were forced to cancel several dates. The quartet did not give up and were back on the road in early 1975, this time with 7 sold-out dates, ending with a big concert in Sweden.

In 1975, Frida would release a new album in Swedish ‘Frida Ensam (Frida Alone)’, topping the Swedish album charts with the original Swedish version of ‘Fernando’, a song that ABBA would later release in English.

• During her career Frida would release 17 albums, the last one in 2004, although she would return in 2012 with ‘A‘.

In 1976, ABBA released their 4th album, ‘Arrival‘. It had higher level of production and composition than its predecessors.

In general, the four members of ABBA always agreed that their compositions were simple, focused on love and with catchy pop melodies.

• One of the main reasons for this was language. While they were all fluent in English, they did not have the same grammatical and lexical command as they did with their mother tongue, Swedish, and this was reflected in their English lyrics.

The first single, ‘Dancing Queen‘ 👸🏼 became an instant hit, becoming ABBA’s signature song, as well as being named one of the best songs ever by Rolling Stone magazine.

• Dancing Queen has sold over 9 million copies, making it the most successful of ABBA’s entire career and their only number 1 on the US Billboard chart.
• Dancing Queen’ was inspired by George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’, whose bass line is virtually identical.
• Its original title was ‘Boogaloo’ because the idea was to reproduce the disco and boogie music so popular in the mid-1970s. The title change was made to better reflect the theme of the song, which is about a young girl enjoying a night of partying and dancing.

The album, ‘Arrival‘, was not just about ‘Dancing Queen‘, songs like ‘Money, Money, Money’ and ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ were also well received.

By 1977, ABBA was already a world-famous group 🌍, touring Europe and Australia, with a big show that included a mini-musical called ‘The Girl with the Golden Hair‘.

• The demand for tickets was brutal, so much so that, for example in the UK, they received 3.5 million requests. They could have filled the Royal Albert Hall 400 times.

During the tour they would play in Sydney in front of 20,000 people who endured hours in the rain. ABBA remembers it as one of the best concerts of their career. It wasn’t all joy though, during one of their concerts in Perth, there was a false bomb threat and the venue had to be evacuated.

• To commemorate the tour, they filmed a documentary called ‘ABBA: The Movie‘, with scenes of the quartet in concert and backstage.

Back in Sweden, Benny and Björn began writing songs for what was to be ABBA’s 5th record, ‘The Album‘. In between Agnetha and Björn had their second child, Christian.

‘The Album‘ was mature lyrically and musically. It was introduced with ‘The Name of the Game‘, followed by fan favourite ‘Take A Chance On Me‘, and the third single, ‘Eagle’, their longest song.

• The album also included ‘Thank you for the music‘ from her previous tour musical ‘The Girl with the Golden Hair‘.
  

ABBA’s seventh studio album, ‘Super Trouper‘ was introduced with ‘The Winner Takes It All‘.

• Written by Björn, the track recounts the problems of his marriage to Agnetha, ‘The Winner Takes It All’ is considered one of ABBA’s best songs.

Super Trouper, featured a more prominent use of synthesizer and much more personal lyrics. The single of the same name would become ABBA’s ninth and final UK No. 1.

Super Trouper would be a new hit thanks to tracks such as: On and On and On, Our Last Summer, Happy New Year, and above all the beautiful ‘Lay all your love on me‘.

In 1981, ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson turned 50, and to celebrate, ABBA composed the song ‘Hovas Vittne‘ for him. Only 200 copies were pressed on red vinyl, which are a collector’s item today ⭕

In 1981 Benny divorced Frida and in the same year married Mona Nörklit, with whom he had a son, Ludvig, in 1982.

• With the two broken marriages, ABBA’s image cracked.
• Their innocent, clean and controversy-free image that had helped them so much on their way to stardom disappeared.

As they had done with the first divorce, they set about creating a new album and diverting attention to what was important, their music.

They would release two advance singles: Slipping Through My Fingers and Two For The Price Of One.

On 19 November 1982, ABBA appeared for the last time on a Swedish television programme and a few days later, on 11 December 1982, they would appear on ‘The Late, Late Breakfast Show‘ in the UK.

• Although they did not officially confirm it by announcing a temporary break, but ABBA would never reunite, at least not for a long time.

The reason for ABBA’s split was influenced by a combination of factors. Firstly, their personal relationships, which were strained after the divorces, also began to diverge creatively, each seeking their own new musical challenges. Beyond that there was a feeling of exhaustion, after 10 years of non-stop recording and touring. On top of that, the changes in the music scene with the emergence of punk and new wave made them lose relevance.

As a result, the members of ABBA stopped composing and playing together.

In 1983 Agnetha would record her first solo album ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me‘, followed in 1985 by ‘Eyes of a Woman‘ and ‘I Stand Alone‘ in 1987.

• Agnetha would also record two albums in Swedish with her two sons, later retiring from public life.

Three of ABBA’s members, Benny, Björn and Frida, in 1983, collaborated on a children’s musical in France called ‘Abbacadabra’ which used ABBA songs.

In 1985, Benny Andersson produced two albums with his brother and sister Anders and Karin Glenmark, under the name Gemini, with songs composed by him and Björn.

In 1986 the four members of ABBA appeared in a Swedish programme commemorating the 55th birthday of their manager Stig Anderson, singing the first song from it, ‘Tivedshambo‘.

• That same year ‘ABBA Live‘ was released, with concert recordings.

In 1987, Benny released his first solo album ‘Klinga Mina Klockor (Chime, My Bells)‘. The second would come 2 years later

In 1990 Agnetha remarried, to Tomas Sonnenfeld, whom she divorced three years later.

In 1992, Frida married Prince Heinrich Ruzo Reuss von Plauen, who died seven years later of cancer.

In 1995, Björn and Benny tried again with a musical, this time in Swedish, ‘Kristina Från Duvemåla‘. It was a great success in their home country.

In 1999 Björn decided to create a musical based on ABBA songs with a funny story behind it. The musical was called ‘Mamma Mia!‘.

• It opened in London on 6 April 1999 and has been a hit in theatres all over the world to this day.

The four members of ABBA attended several premieres and performances of the musical, but were never seen or photographed together, except that same 1999 at a friend’s birthday party for which they sang a Swedish birthday song, ‘Med En Enkel Tulipan‘ a cappella.

In 2000 ABBA turned down an offer of $1 billion 🤑 for a reunion tour consisting of one hundred concerts.

Since 2001 Benny Andersson, who was an alcoholic for a long time 🥃 started rehab. He never denied his addiction to alcohol although he also consumed other substances.

• Benny is still active with his 16-piece band Benny Anderssons Orkester (BAO!), with whom he has released 5 albums with huge success in Sweden, again composing with Björn.
• Their most popular song is ‘Du är min man (You Are My Man)’.

The last song composed by Benny and Björn was ‘Story of a Heart‘, released in 2009 by BAO! A real gem of a song.

In 2004 Agnetha would return to the music scene with a new work called ‘My Colouring Book‘. Since then Agnetha started to participate more in activities related to ABBA and her former bandmates.

In 2016 they opened the Mamma Mia! restaurant in Stockholm, which features a Mediterranean buffet.

• ABBA played an important role in boosting Sweden’s cultural image on the world stage. Their success had a profound impact on Sweden’s music industry and tourism, leading to increased international interest in Swedish music and culture.
• ABBA’s popularity led to a wide range of products, from clothing to dolls and board games.
• In Sweden, they even had their own line of ABBA-branded frozen shrimp.

In 2017, a sequel to the movie ‘Mamma Mia!’ was released under the title ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again‘ starring Cher.